Covering module and anchor sheet

ABSTRACT

This application discloses a relatively thin flexible anchor sheet for installation under carpets or other decorative coverings and a covering module composed of a pre-attached decorative covering and anchor sheet which can be assembled by overlapping hook and loop attachment to an additional covering module to create a complete floor covering of carpet, tile, stone or other material and without attachment to a floor.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/703,901 filed Nov. 2, 2000, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 08/850,726 filed May 2, 1997 and issued as U.S.Pat. No. 6,306,477 on Oct. 23, 2001, and which is itself acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/684,004filed Jul. 19, 1996, now abandoned. The specifications of all of theforegoing applications and patent are herein incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention concerns a relatively thin flexible anchor sheet for useunder carpets or other decorative coverings. In practice, wheninstalled, the anchor sheet acts to tie the decorative covering togetheras a functional unit and to add mass and stability to such unit,particularly a unit having a flexible decorative covering such as acarpet. An anchor sheet may be substantially covered over one side withhooks for anchoring a decorative covering to it by engagement ofcomplementary loops on the lower side of the covering. The anchor sheetitself may be attached to the underlying substrate, such as a floor orwall, or it may be loose laid on a floor where the sheet and coveringtogether have sufficient mass or are so placed as to prevent movement.It is possible to supply the anchor sheet as a small or large modulewith pre-attached decorative covering as will be explained later.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is common to attach a decorative flexible covering, such as carpets,to rigid substrates such as floors, made of wood or concrete. It isoften desirable, or even required, to fasten carpet to the flooringwhich it covers and a variety of attachment methods have been developedover the years.

Carpet can be glued directly to the flooring. This is often the approachtaken in an institutional setting in which the underlying flooring isconcrete and liquid glue is applied across the entire concrete area tobe covered. This approach has the advantage that, so long as theadhesive bond provided between the carpet and flooring remains intact,the carpet cannot buckle. Of course, adjustment or replacement of suchcarpet can be difficult in the sense that previously applied glue mightbe required to be stripped from the flooring and new glue applied. Inaddition, such glues often contain volatile organic components that arebanned in some places or are required to be ventilated, in other places.

Another approach taken to installing wall-to-wall carpet involves theuse of “tackless strips”, which are wooden strips having angled tacksdriven upwardly therethrough. The strips are secured around theperimeter of the area to be covered, often by nailing them into woodenflooring, and the carpet is stretched over the tacks. This approach hasthe advantage that the carpet can be restretched to remove a buckle thatdevelops, and the carpet and underpad, not being permanently adhered tothe flooring can be removed without being destroyed. However, stretchingis a labour intensive art which makes installing wall-to-wall carpet bythis method relatively expensive. This approach also avoids the use ofvolatile organics, but some difficulties can arise in installingtackless strips to concrete.

More recent approaches involving the use of Velcro-type fasteners havebeen described in the patent literature: Germany 7,029,524 (Aug. 8,1970, Velcro France); U.S. Pat. No. 3,574,019 (Apr. 6, 1971, Girard); UK1,546,901 (May 31, 1979, Allied Chemical Corporation); U.S. Pat. No.4,822,658 (Apr. 18, 1989, Pacione); U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,692 (Mar. 9,1993, Pacione); U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,462 (Jan. 17, 1995, Pacione); andU.S. Pat. No. 5,479,755 (Jan. 2, 1996, Pacione). The specifications ofall these patent documents are incorporated herein by reference.

U.S. '658 from the same inventor describes a wall-to-wall installationin which hooked strips are secured by pressure sensitive adhesive arounda room perimeter and at the carpet seams. A carpet having loops acrossits backside is cut to fit the room and the loops engage the hookedtape. U.S. '692 describes a method for seaming a carpet such as the onedescribed in U.S. '658. Both of these patent specifications alsodisclose advantages obtained through the use of a cover for the hookedtape, a primary advantage being that such a cover prevents prematureengagement of the hooks and loops to permit proper placement andadjustment of the carpet without the need for disengaging prematurelyengaged hooks and loops during installation. This prior approachprovides the advantages of installing strips at the perimeter and seamsof a carpeted area, particularly that the carpeting can be liftedwithout being destroyed and the avoidance of the use of compoundscontaining volatile adhesives.

The “holy grail” of carpet and other decorative covering, would be asystem which when laid had such mass and stability as to require littleor no attachment to the underlying substrate and which can be installedover existing substrates without the necessity of the removal ofexisting covering. However for transportation in trucks and tophysically fit into a site, such as a room, such a system has to eitherprovide for sufficient flexibility so that it can be rolled or, ifrigid, a way of assembling modules so as to form a contiguous mass insitu with sufficient mass and stability to remain in place with minimaldetachable attachment or perhaps no attachment, particularly whendealing with different existing floors or flooring surfaces to becovered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

As previously mentioned, there are advantages to allow the carpet orother decorative covering to be attached to an underlying undersurfaceat only a few discrete attachment points or even in some cases notattached at all so as to be easily removable. Attachment to theunderlying substrate at discrete attachment points provides for minimaldamage to the underlying substrate, ease of removal from the substrateand ease of installation. However, a product, method and system isneeded to convert these individual attachment points to structurallyintegrated attachment across the entire undersurface of a carpet orother decorative covering to enable overlaying carpet or otherdecorative covering to be engineered to maintain atmospheric stability,flatness and horizontal plane stability when stressed with forcesproduced by human traffic, rolling vehicles, moving furniture ormoisture or temperature changes.

In addition, the system provides that the pieces of carpet or otherdecorative covering can be integrated together by use of the underlyingdetachable anchor sheet. Then individual modules can be made consistingof a decorative covering and an anchor sheet attached together inadvance of installation at a remote site. Such modules can be easilyremoved and re-attached as required for repair or replacement or fordesign reasons. In addition such individual modules can be lockedtogether by overlapping the anchor sheet or decorative covering ofadjacent modules so as to give the complete structure sufficient massand stability to minimize or remove the need for attachment to thesubstrate.

The present invention in one aspect features an anchor sheet, preferablyof plastic, for detachable attachment of a decorative covering such ascarpet, ceramic, tile, hardwood, marble or a wall covering to anunderlying rigid supporting substrate, such as the surface of flooringor a wall.

By providing an anchor sheet preferably in the form of a relatively thinflexible sheet, integrity can be given to covering materials, such asflexible carpets which can be pre-assembled or assembled on site ontothe surface of the sheet by the use of a complementary hook on the uppersurface of the flexible sheet matching a complementary loop on theundersurface of the carpet or carpet pieces. The sheet can then beinstalled onto an underlying substrate such as concrete or wood at onlya discrete number of points. The anchor sheet enables the installationof decorative covering even onto stone or tile, without significantdestruction of the stone or tile floor. It also enables decorativepatterns to be pre-assembled at a factory or other location or to beassembled on site by cutting and fitting different colours or pieces ofdecorative covering together on the anchor sheet to form decorativepatterns. Such a system is suitable for either area rugs or wall-to-wallcovering and in certain types of wall-to-wall and area rugs, or eventile, it may not be necessary to attach the anchor sheet to theunderlying substrate at all. If the carpet is cut to fit the walls orboundaries of a room the anchor sheet may give sufficient integrity tothe carpet to allow it to simply sit in the location under constraint ofthe perimeter walls or other boundaries or if enough furniture, forexample, was placed on top. It should be emphasized that the anchorsheet, however, is not structural support in the conventional sense asdisclosed for example, in the anchor board of Pacione 5,060,443 since itdoes not support the floor or wall on which it is placed. It is avehicle for stabilizing the carpet or other decorative covering which isoverlaid and for tying individual pieces of carpet or decorativecovering together with each other but not necessarily to the floor.Normally in fact the anchor sheet maintains a certain level offlexibility to enable the anchor sheet to “ride” over imperfections inthe floor.

Normally the anchor sheet is relatively thin in relation to theoverlying decorative covering, but in some cases, for instance, wherethere is a thin layer of marble veneer, then the anchor sheet could bethicker and more rigid than the overlying material and could be made ofmaterials other than plastic such as metal (aluminum or steel) or wood.

Thus, the invention consists of, in one aspect, a detachable anchorsheet for detachable attachment of a decorative covering, such as acarpet, to a rigid supporting substrate, such as a floor, in which thedecorative covering has a finished upper surface and an opposite surfacesubstantially covered in loops. The anchor sheet can comprise arelatively thin flexible sheet, preferably of plastic such as apolycarbonate, polyester, polyethylene, or polypropylene, substantiallycovered with hooks on its upper surface facing the loop surface of thedecorative covering and placed intermediate between the decorativecovering and the supporting substrate. This flexible anchor sheet orsheets can be, but normally is not, exactly the same size as thecombined pieces of overlying sheet goods. Normally overlapping areas ofanchor sheet or decorative covering are used to enable tying of theanchor sheets used in a location together. The anchor sheet may belarger than the area under the sheet goods or it can be smaller in caseswhere it is desired to trim the overlaying carpet to a wall or otherboundary. The anchor sheet and decorative covering must in combinationhave sufficient rigidity to support the decorative covering from shearhorizontal force applied to the sheet goods on the floor or othersubstrate when the combination is laid onto the rigid supportingsubstrate. In some cases, the anchor sheet will be attached to thesubstrate at a limited number of discrete points or in some cases alongwith the covering it may have sufficient rigidity and mass to free floatwithin the boundaries of a room or even on its own.

Thus, in another aspect of this invention it is possible to installdecorative flexible anchor sheets to abut each other and to use eitherthe hook covering of the anchor sheet or the overlying decorativecovering such as a carpet to tie the abutting anchor sheets togetherwith the use of complementary hook and loop technology. In almost allcases the overlying covering will overlap the joins of the anchor sheetsand the anchor sheets will overlap the joins of the covering to tie theanchor sheets and covering together.

It is preferable, but not required in all cases, for the decorativecovering to be detachable from the anchor sheet. In the case of smallermodules the decorative covering would normally be pre-installed, andpossibly even permanently installed, on the non-decorative anchor sheetleaving an area of anchor sheet or decorative covering exposed fordetachable attachment by overlapping with adjoining modules. It isrequired that this closing while maintaining tackiness. In the casewhere hook and loop is used to join the modules, the covering could be ahand smooth plastic which does not bind to the hook and loop, or onecould use a textile or paper hook covering not unlike the hook coveringin original patent Pacione '658. For parquet, tile, hardwood, ceramicsor other rigid decorative covering, a flexible tape covering could beused in the overlapping area, which is provided with a pull string whichcan be pulled from under the pre-assembled covering. This whole processcould be duplicated using entirely adhesive or part adhesive and parthook and loop.

Thus, the individual modules of anchor sheet and the individual modulesof covering are tied together in a supporting mass which can “freefloat” on the floor or be connected at only very few discrete points.

In another aspect the invention consists of an anchor sheet or sheetsand pieces of covering in an overlapping staggered relationship to forma contiguous floor covering having sufficient rigidity, atmosphericstability, horizontal plane stability (shear force stability) andflexibility so that in general use such floor covering may not requireattachment to the underlying floor. Attachment may be required for asmall area rug over a slick marble floor or at a ramp or stairs or wherethe end use involves heavy traffic.

In another aspect of this invention, decorative modules comprising ananchor sheet and decorative covering can be pre-assembled offsite bydetachably attaching some of the hooks on the upper surface of theanchor sheet to some of the loops on the underside of the decorativecovering so that the decorative covering on the anchor sheet overlapsthe anchor sheet by a predetermined amount. These pre-assembleddecorative modules can then be shipped to the site and individuallyplaced on the underlying substrate in an abutting fashion to permitinterlocking between the loops on the underside of the decorativecovering of one unit and the hooks on the upper surface of the anchorsheet of an adjacent decorative module. Each decorative module added tothe growing modular surface covering can be guided into its properposition by placing thin, rigid pieces of plastic over the exposed hooksof the anchor sheet of an established decorative module. After properlyaligning the decorative module to be added to the established module,the thin, rigid plastic pieces are slid out and away from the twomodules, parallel to the horizontal plane, thereby allowing the abuttingmodule to become engaged through a hook and loop system. The thin, rigidpieces of plastic can also be used to detach individual modules of themodular surface covering. The thin, rigid plastic is inserted betweenthe mechanically bonded portions of the hook and loop fastener ofabutting modules, parallel to the horizontal plane, thereby breaking themechanical bond and maintaining the hooks and loops out of contact withone another to enable the units to be dislodged and removed from themodular surface covering.

In another aspect, the invention consists of a covering module fortransportation to a surface to be covered and for attachment toadditional modules to form a finished decorative surface comprising atleast one decorative covering having an upper decorative surface and anopposite lower surface, a non-decorative anchor sheet having an uppersurface, the decorative covering attached across a substantial portionof its lower surface to the non-decorative anchor sheet and the anchorsheet dimensioned so that, after attachment of the decorative coveringto the anchor sheet, there is provided an overlap area of upper surfaceof anchor sheet exposed along at least one edge of the module whichoverlap area is provided with means for detachable attachment of suchmodule to an adjoining module by attachment to an overlapping area ofthe lower surface of a decorative covering attached to an adjoiningmodule.

Covering modules of an unlimited variety of shapes and sizes can beconstructed and decorative patterns may be assembled on site bycombining different colours or patterns of the same type of decorativecovering, such as alternating between units of red and blue carpet or bycombining different types of decorative covering such as carpet andhardwood in a hotel, restaurant or ballroom setting or carpet, hardwood,ceramic or stone in a home setting. In general use, such contiguouscovering could have sufficient rigidity and mass so as not to requireattachment to the underlying surface. In some cases, attachment of theanchor sheet at discrete points may be required as for example, when thesurface to be covered is a wall.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows anchor sheets of a first embodiment of the system of theinvention laid side by side on a floor with a temporary hook coveringbridging the abutting joins to tie the sheets together.

FIG. 2 shows a section of anchor sheet laid onto a floor with the sheetcovered with separate detachable hook cover pieces A-A at a boundary.

FIG. 3 shows a section along the lines 3-3 in FIG. 1 with a connectinghook cover piece.

FIG. 4 shows carpeting laid onto the anchor sheeting of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 shows a section along the lines 5-5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 shows pre-assembled carpeting and anchor sheet together beinglaid in abutting overlapping relationship onto a floor.

FIG. 7 shows a section along the lines 7-7 in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 shows an alternative embodiment with a separate carpet piecebridging abutting anchor sheets.

FIG. 9 is a section along the lines 9-9 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 shows another arrangement of anchor sheet and carpet with adecorative pattern.

FIG. 11 shows an area rug installed on an anchor sheet having a lip.

FIG. 12 is a section along the lines 11-11 of FIG. 12.

FIG. 13 is yet another embodiment of anchor sheet and overlyingdecorative covering pieces which has not been created from modularunits.

FIG. 13 a is yet another embodiment of anchor sheet and overlyingdecorative covering pieces pre-assembled as individual modular units andlaid in an abutting and overlapping fashion.

FIG. 14 shows an anchor sheet having an upper surface substantiallycovered with hooks and an optional cushion on the underside of theanchor sheet.

FIG. 15 shows a decorative covering module having a decorative finishedupper surface and an underside substantially covered with loops.

FIG. 16 shows one covering module of a modular surface covering having adecorative covering detachably precision attached in an overlappingmanner to an anchor sheet by means of hook and loop technology.

FIG. 17 shows a section along lines 17-17 of FIG. 16.

FIG. 18 shows two pre-assembled covering modules being laid in anabutting overlapping relationship onto an underlying substrate.

FIG. 18 a shows three pre-assembled covering modules laid in an abuttingoverlapping relationship on an underlying substrate and a fourthcovering module being installed.

FIG. 19 shows a portion of a finished modular surface covering.

FIG. 20 shows a section of two covering modules attached together.

FIG. 21 shows another arrangement of the modular surface coveringcomposed of covering modules of a rectangular size and shape.

FIG. 22 shows another arrangement of the modular surface coveringrepresenting a decorative pattern with artificial grout separatingcarpet tiles.

FIG. 23 shows a decorative pattern separator for use in the arrangementof FIG. 22.

FIG. 24 shows one way in which the covering modules assembled as shownin FIG. 22 may be delivered on site.

FIG. 25 shows another arrangement of covering modules as an alternativeto the arrangement shown in FIG. 22.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Turning to the drawings, a first embodiment anchor sheet 1 isillustrated in FIG. 1 having abutting anchor sheets 3 and 5. Each anchorsheet is covered with plastic or filament hooks 7 which can be betterseen in FIGS. 2 and 3 similar to hooks currently used on conventionalhook and loop fastening systems. Covering pieces 9, preferably of cloth,cover the hooks 7. The covering could also be a film. The covering canbe better seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. In order to keep the hooks 7 clean andto prevent premature attachment of a to-be-installed overlying covering,this form of anchor sheet is completely covered with a covering.Preferably there is a separate covering strip 11 of a width A, as shownin FIG. 2, which establishes a pre-cut slit 12 in the covering of awidth A along the border of each anchor sheet. While the anchor sheetcan be provided in rolls as described later, in the embodiment of FIG. 1it is simply a sheet, for instance, a rectangle of four feet by eightfeet. It can be laid on the floor, in the case of a wall-to-wallinstallation, in continuous abutting relationship to other anchor sheetsto cover the entire surface of the floor or other rigid substrate. As itis covered with coverings 9 and strips 11, it is possible to lay andinstall carpet on it without premature attachment of the hooks 7 andcomplementary loops. The carpet constructed, for instance, as disclosedin U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,658 (Pacione) can be installed onto this anchorsheet.

However when working on the anchor sheet with carpet, it may bepreferable if the anchor sheets are at least anchored to each other andpossibly pre-attached at discrete locations to the floor. Anchor sheetscan be attached to each other by the removal of precut hook coveringstrips 11 on either piece of abutting anchor sheets for instance 1 and 3and replacement of such hook covering with a bridging piece of hookcovering for instance 13 which covers the join between abutting anchorsheets and attaches them to each other. Strip 13 can cover the joinbetween a number of anchor sheets. For instance in FIG. 1, it is alsocovering the abutting join between anchor sheet 8 and 10 as well.

Anchor sheets can also be attached to the floor at discrete locationssuch as at point 14. The anchor sheet can be glued down, attached byhook tape affixed to the floor and attachable to complementary loops onthe back of the anchor sheet, or attached by double-sided adhesive tape,but in most cases the simplest form of attachment of the anchor sheet tothe rigid substrate, particularly if the substrate is, for example, awooden floor, is to attach the anchor sheet at discrete points by theuse of nails or tacks. Such discrete points are shown at 14 in FIG. 1and in this case it is advisable to have perforations, slits or holes inhook cover sheet 9 so as to enable the anchor sheets such as 1, 3, 5etc. to be nailed to the floor through the hook cover sheets 9 withoutthe head of such nail or tack attaching the hook cover sheet 9permanently to the anchor sheet 1, 3, 5 etc. so that such sheet can beremoved after the overlying carpet has been cut and fit in place forattachment of the overlying carpet to the anchor sheet. In addition,depending on the thickness or brittleness of the anchor sheets, it maybe advisable to have pre-drilled holes in the anchor sheets.

Depending upon the form of attachment, if any, of the anchor sheet tothe floor, it may not be necessary to attach the anchor sheets to eachother by the use of bridging hook cover 13 during installation of thecarpet.

It may also be possible, depending upon where the underlying carpetjoins occur, to leave bridging tape 13 attached to the anchor sheetssince there will be normally sufficient attachment of the carpet to theanchor sheet in a large area underneath hook cover 9. It is notnecessary to attach the anchor sheets to the underlying floor substratein every situation. The overlying carpet (not shown in FIG. 1, 2 or 3)will provide additional mass and rigidity to the anchor sheets whichwill be firmly attached to each other by such overlying carpet. In thiscase, depending upon the mass of the carpet and the rigidity of theanchor sheets, the combination may be firmly enough attached in place bythe surrounding boundaries of the walls or other perimeter of the roomor area in which the anchor sheet and carpet have been installed.

In some cases, given a large enough carpet area, and depending upon theunderlying floor structure, it may not be necessary even to attach arearugs to the underlying floor since they may have sufficient mass toremain in place without substantial movement on their own. It will alsodepend, for instance, in the case of both area rugs and wall to wallcarpet on whether or not furniture or other heavy objects are installedon the combination carpet and anchor sheet.

In some cases, the abutting anchor sheets as shown in FIG. 1, will beinstalled under carpets of a wider width than the anchor sheet so thatthe carpet 15 overlaps the anchor sheet as shown in FIG. 4. Loops 17 onthe back of the carpet are engageable with hooks 7 when the cover 9 hasbeen removed. For installation, carpet 15 is rolled out onto the anchorsheets which are entirely covered by a hook covering 9. The carpet cannow be cut and fit and adjusted in place and abutted against anothercarpet roll before any attachment to the underlying anchor sheet 1 ismade. In FIG. 5 is shown a cross-section of the anchor sheet and carpetprior to removal of the hook covering 9 or 13. Thus carpet 15 overlapsjoin 17 between abutting anchor sheets 1 and 3. Anchor sheets 1 and 3are possibly attached to the floors as previously described and they arealso attached to each other by hook covering 13 bridging join 17. Oncecovering 9 is removed, at least part of anchor sheet 1 and at least partof anchor sheet 3, are now both attached to carpet 15 so that carpet 15now also bridges the join 17 between anchor sheets 1 and 3 and ties suchanchor sheets together. It is possible, and even in some situationspreferable, to also remove bridging hook cover 13. However, it is notalways necessary to do this. Once at least hook covering 9 is removed,the carpet and anchor sheet whether or not attached to the underlyingsubstrate form a contiguous rigid floor covering of relatively greatstrength, mass and rigidity which does not buckle under ordinary useeven if there has been no attachment directly to the floor.

The anchor sheet itself is preferably made of thin polycarbonate,polyethylene, polypropylene or polyester of preferably from 10/1000 to20/1000 thickness. The thickness may vary depending upon the coveringmaterial and the stability requirements for the carpet. It is alsopossible for the anchor sheet to be made of thin sheet metal, carbonfibres or some form of polymer. The anchor sheet can include a foamlayer which provides resiliency. Hooks can be attached to the sheet byany conventional means but extrusion or co-extrusion are the preferredmethods.

Thus the anchor sheets and carpet together are, in many situations, thinenough and flexible enough to be rolled as a single unit. This enablesthe carpet, in some embodiments, to be pre-installed onto the anchorsheet in which case it can be more easily installed as shown in FIG. 6.

In this case, carpet 19 installed on anchor sheet 21 (as seen in FIG. 7)is rolled onto the floor and cut to fit adjoining walls 23 and 24.

Carpet piece 19 and anchor sheet 21 is delivered to the site in the sameform as carpet piece 29 and anchor 31 but in the case of the part whichabuts wall 23, the extra carpet may be trimmed off or left as it is nota necessity that the anchor sheet abut the wall.

It has come pre-installed (as can better be seen in FIG. 7) onto anchorsheet 21 which is, in this case, bigger than carpet piece 19 so as toleave exposed an area of hooks 25 covered with a hook covering 27. Mostcarpet rolled in this way will be installed on an anchor sheet at afactory with an overlap a shown for carpet piece 29 so that the carpetoverlaps on one side of the anchor sheet 31 and on another side theanchor sheet 31 itself extends beyond carpet piece 29. Carpet and anchorsheet combination 29 and 31 are then unrolled to abut carpet piece 19and can be cut and fit in place after which hook covering 27 can beremoved by pulling the hook covering up thereby rolling back carpetpiece 29 or in some cases by pulling the covering 27 up and through join33. Carpet piece 29 is now firmly attached to both anchor sheet 21 and31 and, as it bridges the join 35 between the two of them attaches thetwo anchor sheets together. It is now possible to repeat this process bylaying an additional similar carpet roll over hook covering 37 andremove such hook covering to attach the next adjoining carpet piece toanchor sheet 31 and to repeat this process again and again until theroom is covered in carpet and anchor sheet in a continuing piece.

If it is necessary to attach the anchor sheets to the floor, it can bedone in the area exposed where the anchor sheet hooks and hook coveringare not covered by the pre-installed carpet roll such as at 39 or 41. Inthis case the hook covering 27 or 37 can have perforations, slits orholes so that a nail or tack attached through the hook covering will notattach the hook covering to the underlying anchor sheet so that it canbe removed as previously described. Attachment of the anchor sheet tothe floor at for instance strips 39 and 41 should be sufficientattachment in many, if not most, instances, especially when combinedwith the fact that the decorative carpet covering also ties the anchorsheets together as a single unit.

There is an advantage in some situations to install the carpet over ananchor sheet in a factory. The factory can cut and fit a number ofdifferent carpet pieces onto the anchor sheet, both for decorativepurposes and for transportation of the carpet pieces together as onepiece. Thus as shown in FIG. 6 it is possible to have an insert, forinstance 43, repeated with a decoration or pattern at intervals on thecarpet roll and with smaller geometrical inserts 45. Typically theseinserts would be of a different colour or different design or pattern tocreate a pleasing carpet pattern.

FIG. 8 shows an additional form of carpet installation. In this case thecarpet and anchor sheet will be delivered from the factory attached butthe carpet, for instance 47, is narrower than the anchor sheet 48 toleave an exposed area of anchor sheet hook 49 and hook covering 50 ofapproximately width C as shown in FIG. 9 on both longitudinal edges. Inthis case, the carpet is unrolled and, if desired, attached to theunderlying floor. Another similar anchor sheet 51, having installedthereon carpet 52 is unrolled and abutted to anchor sheet 48 (seen inFIG. 9). Anchor sheet 53 is also unrolled and abutted to anchor sheet51. Anchor sheets can be attached to the floor by, for instance, nailingthrough strip areas 55, 57, 59 and 61 since at this stage of theinstallation, those areas do not contain a carpet covering. Bridgingcarpet strip 63 can be fit to the area not covered by carpet 55 and 57(the area labelled D in FIG. 9). After fitting, underlying hookcoverings 50 and 54 can be removed so that carpet piece 63 can beinstalled on the anchor sheet to bridge and firmly attach anchor sheet48 to anchor sheet 51. A similar process can then be followed for anchorsheet 53.

Normally this form of installation would be used where it is desired tohave carpet strip 63 of a different colour or pattern than carpet pieces47 and 52 so as to provide a decorative border around individual carpetareas 47 and 52 51. In this case, it is likely that the pattern orborder will also be contained along edges 65 and this can be easilyaccommodated by installing carpet piece 47 of a size smaller than theanchor sheet 48 to create strip 65 of any desired thickness. This formof installation may also allow for room variations since the carpet trimat the border is installed and trimmed last.

Again it is possible for anchor sheets 48 and 51 to be attached to thefloor either by tacking or nailing or also by a complementary hook andloop attachment system, or (although it is usually not preferable) bygluing or pressure sensitive double-sided tape.

In FIG. 10 is shown another form of pattern 67 containing a centralmedallion 69 and corner pieces 71 installed on an anchor sheet 73. Inthis case the anchor sheets and carpet pieces simply abut and areattached to the floor by small pieces of hook tape 75 which willnormally have hook covering (not shown), hooks on an upper surface and apressure sensitive adhesive 77 on a lower surface for attachment to thefloor. The pressure sensitive adhesive will normally have a peelable drystrippable covering.

In this case the carpet 67 and anchor sheet 73 can be attached byindividual pieces 75 at the corners which can overlap with the adjoiningcarpet pieces. Strips could also be used along joins between forinstance carpet pieces 67 and 79, but if a number of pieces is to beused, normally an overlapping modular system such as shown in FIG. 19would be used, since this assists in holding seams in place and assistswith gauge differential problems that might exist between differentcarpets which could cause seam abuse. If a modular system is usedattachment points to the underlying floor may not be required.

This same pattern could be used as described later, without attachmentto the floor by overlapping piece 79 for instance onto adjoining anchorboard 73. In this case, of course, piece 67 must be made shorter.

One advantage of the anchor sheet system is that carpet inserts 69 and71 can be removed, replaced, or exchanged if different colours orpatterns are desired and similarly as shown in FIG. 6 inserts 43 andpieces 45 can also be removed and changed. Any pattern can be inserted,and if standard sizes are used, the patterns can be interchangeable soas to convert the carpet piece from for instance a boy's pattern to agirl's pattern or from a living room pattern to a bedroom or bathroompattern.

Another prime advantage is that the anchor sheet need only be attachedat a discrete corner area such as with pad 75 shown in FIG. 10 but,nevertheless, carpet pieces 67, 69, 71 and 72, for instance, are allattached across their entire undersurface on the anchor sheet 73 so thata pattern can be inserted or replaced at any point.

As shown in FIG. 12, an area rug can also be created in which carpetpiece 81 is installed over anchor sheet 83 as best seen in FIG. 12.Anchor sheet 83 has upturned or curled lip 85 which covers the exposededges 87 of the carpet.

An anchor sheet for such area carpet can be attached by nails or by hookand loop technology (if the underside of the anchor sheet is covered inloops and is then installed with corresponding hooked tape). In mostcases it would be sufficient to simply attach the anchor sheet atdiscrete points to the underlying floor by a small piece of loop tapeattached by pressure sensitive adhesive to the underside of the anchorsheet 83 matched to a corresponding small piece of hook tape attached bypressure sensitive adhesive to the floor. In some cases the area carpetmay have sufficient mass and stability not to have to be attached to theunderlying floor at all. The need for attachment is reduced if, forinstance, anchor sheet 83 has a non-slip surface on its underside. Withthe anchor sheet disclosed it is possible to attach area rugs togranite, marble or stone, floors to which it has been difficult to applyarea rugs in the past. In addition, carpet 81 can, like carpets 67 and19, have inserted patterns and those patterns can be quite elaborateallowing, for the first time, a relatively cheap patterned rug which canmimic even, for instance, oriental carpets, in which a large number ofcarpet pieces are installed over a unitary anchor sheet 83. It is evenpossible to create a crazy quilt or a do-it-yourself carpet using carpetpieces installed over a pre-formed anchor sheet 83.

As shown in FIG. 13, anchor sheets 89 can be made in smaller modules.Decorative covering such as carpet pieces 91, can be, for instance,carpet tiles, and if they are laid in overlapping relationship as shownin FIG. 13, a contiguous mass can be formed by anchor sheets 89 andcarpet pieces 91, which would be sufficient to provide for stableinstallation without attachment to a floor. This would particularly bethe case if piece 91 is not carpet but parquet or another rigiddecorative covering. If however it is desired to attach the anchorsheets 89 to the floor, that can be easily done by tacking or nailing,or using conventional hook and loop technology. In this case again itwould be preferable to have slits, perforations or holes 93 in the tapecovering 95 (if tape covering is used) so that the anchor sheet can beattached to the floor before removal of any hook covering, but withoutthe attachment of the hook covering to the floor.

In FIG. 13 a is shown a similar arrangement to FIG. 13, but in which thepattern is built in a modular way so that, for instance, units of acovering 91 and an anchor sheet 89 can be created before assembling theentire surface covering. A form of such units, which we call coveringmodules, is described below.

As shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, in an additional form of installation,covering modules comprising an anchor sheet 96 having an upper surfacecovered substantially with hooks 97, with an optional cushion on itslower surface 98 and a decorative covering 99 for placement over theanchor sheet having a decorative finished upper surface 100 and a lowersurface substantially covered with loops 101 are detachably preattachedoffsite in an overlapping manner along surface AA as shown in FIG. 17such that an area of hooks are left exposed BB while some of the loopson the underside of the decorative covering are also left exposed CC.Covering pieces (not shown), preferably of cloth can cover the hooks 97,but are not necessary where temporary coverings 106 as seen in FIGS. 18and 18 a are used. It might be advisable to use covering pieces toprevent dirt from covering the hooked surface before assembly.

These pre-assembled covering modules are then shipped to the site and asshown in FIGS. 18 and 18 a, placed on the underlying substrateindividually, in an abutting fashion, in order to engage the exposedloops 101 on the underside of the decorative covering of one coveringmodule and the exposed hooks 97 on the upper surface of the anchor sheetof an adjacent covering module. As shown in FIG. 18, each coveringmodule 105 added to the growing modular surface covering is guided intoits proper position by laying thin, rigid pieces of plastic 106, overthe exposed hooks of the anchor sheet of the established covering module107. The rigid pieces of plastic permit placement and adjustment of theunit without premature engagement of hooks and loops duringinstallation. After properly aligning the loops on the underside of thedecorative covering of one covering module with the hooks on the uppersurface of the anchor sheet of the abutting covering module, the thin,rigid pieces of plastic are slid out parallel to the horizontal planeand away from the two units thereby enabling the abutting units tobecome engaged through hook and loop technology. Any hook coveringpieces (not shown) of the recently added covering module are thenremoved in preparation for the addition of a subsequent covering module.This step by step process of attaching covering units to adjacentcovering units mechanically bonded through hook and loop technology isrepeated to create a contiguous surface covering as shown in FIG. 19.FIG. 20 shows a section of two covering modules attached together.

A disadvantage of using covering modules is the difficulty of aligningthem over a great distance. The anchor sheet should preferably beprecisely located in relation to the neighbouring anchor sheet and thedecorative covering should preferably be precisely located in relationto the decorative covering of a neighbouring covering module. If thelength AA, BB or CC (as shown in FIG. 17) is off by even a small amount,this amount multiplied over many modules will result in a misalignmentof the surface covering. Thus unless the anchor sheet and the decorativecovering are precisely aligned on the covering module, it will not bepossible in practice to easily install an overlapping system, such asdisclosed here. In practice, it is necessary to have these modulespreattached in a precise relationship as shown in FIG. 17, preferably bypreassembly at a factory using a machine for accurate alignment. It isalso possible but slow to use a pattern or form at the point ofinstallation for maintaining a constant alignment of the decorativecovering with the anchor sheet.

One advantage of this form of installation is that an unlimited varietyof patterns can be created. Decorative coverings or the entire coveringmodule can be removed, replaced or exchanged if different colour orpattern combinations are desired. Any pattern can be inserted and ifstandard sizes are used, patterns can be interchangeable. For example,units of different coloured carpet can be installed to create a uniquecarpet design or a combination of different types of covering modules,such as carpet and hardwood or ceramic and marble can be combined andsubsequently replaced or exchanged to form yet other uniquearrangements.

To facilitate this process, the thin, rigid pieces of plastic discussedabove can also be used to detach individual units of the modular surfacecovering. The thin, rigid pieces of plastic are inserted between themechanically bonded portions of the hook and loop fastener of abuttingunits, parallel to the horizontal plane, thereby breaking the mechanicalbond and maintaining the hooks and loops out of contact with one anotherto enable the units to be dislodged and removed from the modular surfacecovering.

Another advantage is that in most cases, the mass of the decorativecovering and the rigidity of the anchor sheet when attached togetherwill enable the modular surface covering resulting from the hook andloop attachment of abutting covering modules, to abutting anchor sheetsto be held firmly in place without the need for attachment to theunderlying substrate. However, if it is necessary to attach selectedcovering modules to the substrate, as for example, with a wall covering,that can be done by tacking, nailing, gluing or by use of hook and looptechnology. The exposed portion of the anchor sheet of a covering moduleyet to be bonded through hook and loop technology to a subsequentlyadded abutting module can be used for tacking to the underlyingsubstrate. Such exposed portion is then covered by a decorative coveringof an abutting covering module. Such discrete tacking points could be asshown at 108 in FIGS. 16, 18, 19 and 21. Attachment of the anchor to thesubstrate at points 108 or even fewer points should be sufficientattachment in many, if not most, instances. Depending on the thicknessor brittleness of the anchor sheets, it may be advisable to havepredrilled holes in the anchor sheets. In this case again it would bepreferable to have slits, perforations or holes (not shown) in the tapecovering (not shown) so that the anchor sheet can be attached to thefloor before removal of any hook covering, but without the attachment ofthe hook covering to the floor.

Shown in FIGS. 22, 23, and 24 is an additional carpet or ceramic tilepattern using covering modules 110 such as shown in FIG. 24. Suchcovering modules consist of an anchor sheet 112 and a tile or decorativecovering 114 which can be of ceramic or carpet or any other suitablematerial. Normally the tile or decorative covering 114 and anchor sheet112 are pre-attached at a factory in a precisely pre-determinedrelationship as shown. If the tile or decorative covering contains loopsacross its undersurface and the anchor sheet hooks across its topsurface, then detachment and reattachment are possible if required onsite. A permanent adhesive can be used for a permanent bond between tile114 and anchor sheet 112 or a temporary adhesive having the propertiesof hook and loop (i.e. can be attached and reattached and goodhorizontal strength) can be used.

Assuming hook and loop is used, then the anchor sheet 112 will becovered in hooks similar to hooks 97 in FIGS. 14 and 18 and, theunderside of the tile will be covered in loops similar to loops 101 inFIGS. 15 and 17. Tile or decorative covering such as 116 in FIG. 22overlaps and binds to anchor sheets 112, 118, 120 and 122 and helps totie those anchor sheets together. If the tile is carpet tile, then tilessuch as 114, 116 and others including centre tile 124 can be formed bydye cutting of a larger carpet piece. In this case “grout” shapedspacing pieces 126 as shown in FIG. 23 are formed. If other carpets ofcontrasting colours are also cut, these pieces can be used with othersimilarly shaped patterns cut from such carpets. This piece 126, if itcame from the carpet used to make tile 114 or 124 would go off for usein another pattern and a new piece (not shown) of the same shape aspiece 126 would be included (from a dye cutting of a carpet of acontrasting colour).

By using such decorative pattern separators, such as 126, the placeswhere similar colours meet can be minimized. By providing a contrastingcolour for piece 126, the eye is drawn to the pattern rather than anyimperfections where straight lines of similar but not identical dye lotsmeet. Thus in the pattern of FIG. 22 or 25, similar colours meet onlyat, for instance, 125 in FIG. 23 or 119 in FIG. 25. It is possible toprovide a third or even more colours to eliminate places where the samecolours meet, which could provide difficulty for subsequent matching.Shown in FIG. 25 is another arrangement in which, for instance, tile 128is placed on anchor sheet 134. The pattern is similar but the tile ordecorative covering is in a different orientation to anchor sheet 134.In this case tile 128 for instance overlaps anchor sheet 130 and 134,but anchor sheet 134 and 136 are attached by medallion 132 and also byan insert or “grout” 126 as shown in FIG. 23, which has not yet beeninstalled in the arrangement of FIG. 25.

In the case where tiles such as 114 or 128 are ceramic tiles, it ispossible to size them in relation to the anchor sheet so that the spacebetween, for instance, tiles 114, 116 and medallion 124 is less thanshown in FIG. 22, and then a resilient grout, such as rubber caulking,could be friction fit into the space between the tiles to simulate realgrout or the rubber caulking could be provided as an elastic band of asize to fit around tile 114 or medallion 124. Such elastic band couldeven be preinstalled onto the tile before the covering modules such as110 are assembled. Additionally even real grout could be used directlyinto the space between the tiles.

The anchor sheet of this invention in its various embodiments allows forincreased versatility in the installation of decorative coverings orcarpets that have been created with loops such as the hook and loopsystem disclosed in Pacione U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,658. Using the coveringmodules, in which the decorative covering and anchor sheet arepre-attached, it is possible to reduce the attachment area to an exposedoverlapping area and to use an adhesive which can be pulled apart andre-attached or hook and loop in such exposed area. With the anchorsheet, carpets and other decorative covering can be installed easily onalmost any surface without destroying the surface and they can be, inmany instances, pre-assembled at a factory and the carpets or otherdecorative covering only need to be attached to the underlying surface,if at all, at a few discrete places. This removes the necessity ofhaving to remove underlying substrate such as carpet or hardwood andhaving to strip adhesives such as glue from the surface. Largequantities of decorative covering such as carpet no longer have to bedisposed of as they are simply covered by a new decorative covering.Further, with this invention, it is now possible to maintain a valuableflooring, such as marble, intact for later use, but to temporarily coversuch flooring with carpet or tile.

While certain embodiments of the invention have been disclosed, it isintended to cover all variations and combinations of the invention asclaimed in the attached claims.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A covering module to form a finished decorativesurface comprising: at least one decorative covering having an upperdecorative surface and an opposite lower surface, a non-decorativeanchor sheet having an upper surface, the decorative covering attachedacross a substantial portion of its lower surface to the non-decorativeanchor sheet so that, after attachment of the decorative covering to theanchor sheet, there is provided an overlap area of upper surface ofanchor sheet exposed along at least an edge of the module, which overlaparea is provided with means for detachable attachment of such module toan adjoining module by attachment to an overlapping exposed area of alower surface of a decorative covering of an adjoining module.
 22. Acovering module to form a finished decorative surface comprising: atleast one decorative covering having an upper decorative surface and anopposite lower surface, a non-decorative anchor sheet having an uppersurface, the decorative covering attached across a substantial portionof its lower surface to the non-decorative anchor sheet so that, afterattachment of the decorative covering to the anchor sheet, there isprovided an overlap area of lower surface of the decorative coveringexposed along at least an edge of the module, which overlap area isprovided with means for detachable attachment of such module to anadjoining module by attachment to an overlap area of an upper surface ofan anchor sheet of an adjoining module.
 23. A covering module as claimedin claim 21 or 22 in which the means for attachment in the overlap areaof anchor sheet and decorative covering are one portion of acomplementary hook and loop attachment system substantially covering theoverlap area of the anchor sheet to be matched with the complementarysecond portion of such hook and loop system on the overlap area of anadjoining decorative covering.
 24. A covering module as claimed in claim23 in which there is provided on site a temporary covering to preventattachment of the decorative covering to the non-decorative anchor sheetuntil the module and adjoining module are in the desired positionrelative to each other.
 25. The covering module of claim 24 in which thetemporary covering is a thin smooth sheet of at least substantially thesize of the overlapping area, which cannot bind to either complementaryhook or loop portions.
 26. A covering module as claimed in claim 25 inwhich the temporary covering is sufficiently rigid and thin so that itcan be pushed between the complementary hook and loop bonds of anoverlapped attached decorative covering and anchor sheet to break suchbonds in the area of such covering to enable readjustment of adecorative covering in relation to an anchor sheet or one module inrelation to another.
 27. The covering module of claim 23 in which thelower surface of the anchor sheet is provided with a resilientundercushion.
 28. The covering module of claim 23 which is laid onto afloor and is attached to adjacent like modules so as to form a coveringof sufficient mass and rigidity to remain in place on a floor withoutbuckling or movement when subject to normal traffic and withoutattachment to the floor.
 29. The covering module of claim 28 in whichthe lower surface of the anchor sheet is provided with a non-slipcovering.
 30. A covering module as claimed in claim 21 or 22 in whichthe decorative covering and non-decorative anchor sheet are preciselydimensioned and attached off site in alignment to provide for apre-determined overlap area of anchor sheet and decorative covering sothat when the anchor sheet of a first module is placed in position nextto an adjacent second module the decorative covering of the first moduleoverlaps the second module by a predetermined amount and in apredetermined relation to the decorative covering of the second module.31. A covering module as claimed in claim 30 in which the decorativecovering and the non-decorative anchor sheet are attached by means of acomplementary hook and loop attachment system covering the lower surfaceof the decorative covering and the upper surface of the anchor sheet.32. The covering module as claimed in claim 30, in which the decorativecovering and the non-decorative anchor sheet are attached by means of anadhesive covering.
 33. The covering module as claimed in claim 21,wherein the exposed overlap area of upper surface has an adhesive formultiple openings and closings while maintaining tackiness.
 34. Thecovering module as claimed in claim 33, wherein the decorative coveringis permanently attached across a substantial portion of its lowersurface to the non-decorative anchor sheet.
 35. The covering module asclaimed in claim 22, wherein the exposed overlap area of lower surfacehas an adhesive for multiple openings and closings while maintainingtackiness.
 36. The covering module as claimed in claim 35, wherein thedecorative covering is permanently attached across a substantial portionof its lower surface to the non-decorative anchor sheet.